One of the best-known stories in American culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over 100 years. Best Actress nominee Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Alice In Wonderland), fresh from filming one of this year’s most anticipated films, The Dark Knight Rises, lends her voice to this uniquely American fairy tale.

Pride and Prejudice [Audible Studios]

Pride and Prejudice has delighted generations of readers with its unforgettable cast of characters, carefully choreographed plot, and a hugely entertaining view of the world and its absurdities. With the arrival of eligible young men in their neighbourhood, the lives of Mr and Mrs Bennet and their five daughters are turned inside out and upside down.

The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel of the Roaring Twenties is beloved by generations of readers and stands as his crowning work. This new audio edition, authorized by the Fitzgerald estate, is narrated by Oscar-nominated actor Jake Gyllenhaal (Brokeback Mountain). Gyllenhaal's performance is a faithful delivery in the voice of Nick Carraway, the Midwesterner turned New York bond salesman, who rents a small house next door to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby....

Fahrenheit 451

Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife, Mildred, who spends all day with her television "family."

Macbeth: A Novel

Macbeth: A Novel brings the intricacy and grit of the historical thriller to Shakespeare’s tale of political intrigue, treachery, and murder. In this full-length novel written exclusively for audio, authors A. J. Hartley and David Hewson rethink literature’s most infamous married couple, grounding them in a medieval Scotland whose military and political upheavals are as stark and dramatic as the landscape in which they are played.

London: A Short History of the Greatest City in the Western World

No city has had as powerful and as enduring an impact on Western civilization as London. But what made the city the perfect environment for so many great developments? How did London endure the sweeping historical revolutions and disasters without crumbling? Find the answers to these questions and more in these 24 fascinating lectures.

Lolita

Why we think it’s a great listen: Among the great literary achievements of the 20th century, Lolita soars in audio thanks to the incomparable Jeremy Irons, bringing to life Nabokov’s ability to shock and enthrall more than 50 years after publication. Lolita became a cause celebre because of the erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Nabokov's masterpiece owes its stature not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story that is shocking in its beauty and tenderness.

Water for Elephants

Why we think it’s a great listen: Some books are meant to be read; others are meant to be heard – Water for Elephants falls into the second group, and is one of the best examples we have of how a powerful performance enhances a great story. Nonagenarian Jacob Jankowski reflects back on his wild and wondrous days with a circus. It's the Depression Era and Jacob, finding himself parentless and penniless, joins the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth.

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

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The End of the Affair

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The Handmaid's Tale

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead, serving in the household of the enigmatic Commander and his bitter wife. She may go out once a day to markets whose signs are now pictures because women are not allowed to read. She must pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, for in a time of declining birthrates her value lies in her fertility, and failure means exile to the dangerously polluted Colonies. Offred can remember a time when she lived with her husband and daughter and had a job, before she lost even her own name....

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is both a whimsical fantasy and a social satire chock-full of brilliant Twainisms. Hank Morgan, a nineteenth-century American---a Connecticut Yankee---by a stroke of fate is sent back into time to sixth-century England and ends up in Camelot and King Arthur's Court.

Flowers for Algernon

Charlie Gordon knows that he isn't very bright. At 32, he mops floors in a bakery and earns just enough to get by. Three evenings a week, he studies at a center for mentally challenged adults. But all of this is about to change for Charlie. As part of a daring experiment, doctors are going to perform surgery on Charlie's brain. They hope the operation and special medication will increase his intelligence, just as it has for the laboratory mouse, Algernon.

The One and Only Ivan

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I Am Malala: The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban

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The Remains of the Day

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God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything

In the tradition of Bertrand Russell's Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris' recent best-seller, The End of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos.

At the Mountains of Madness [Blackstone Edition]

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The Killer Angels: A Novel of the Civil War

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The Fault in Our Stars

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel’s story is about to be completely rewritten. Insightful, bold, irreverent, and raw, The Fault in Our Stars is award-winning-author John Green’s most ambitious and heartbreaking work yet, brilliantly exploring the funny, thrilling, and tragic business of being alive and in love.

Not My Father's Son: A Memoir

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Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography

A teen idol at 15, an international icon and founder of the Brat Pack at 20, and one of Hollywood's top stars to this day, Rob Lowe chronicles his experiences. Never mean-spirited or salacious, Lowe delivers unexpected glimpses into his successes, disappointments, relationships, and one-of-a-kind encounters with people who shaped our world over the last 25 years. These stories are as entertaining as they are unforgettable.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Fifteen-year-old Christopher Boone has Asperger's Syndrome, a condition similar to autism. He doesn't like to be touched or meet new people, he cannot make small talk, and he hates the colors brown and yellow. He is a math whiz with a very logical brain who loves solving puzzles that have definite answers.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

A New York Times best-selling author of both fiction and nonfiction, Anne Lamott was also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. As much a guide to writing as an exploration of the emotional challenges of being a writer, Bird by Bird offers a candid and often humorous look at how to tackle these varied obstacles.

Treasure Island

If you happen to find a map in a dead buccaneer's sea trunk, you can't very well ignore it, not if you are Jim Hawkins and his friends Dr. Livesey, Captain Smollett, and Squire Trelawney! But even with a map, buried treasures are not easy things to come by.

Audible Editor Reviews

Anne Hathaway is nothing short of masterful in her narration of Baum’s beloved classic. As she guides listeners through the world of munchkins, winkies, and quadlings; witches; and the humbug Oz, Hathaway’s impressive vocal repertoire shines. As narrator, she is lithe yet precise; her voice sounds lilting or emphatic, as the story details require. In character, she is spectacular. Each character is filled with personality - a light-voiced Witch of the North; a brusque soldier at Oz’s palace; a monotone, robot-like Oz; and a usually cheerful and genuine Dorothy. The variety enriches the listening experience. Yes, one may know the story well, but Hathaway makes this recording a definitive one.

Publisher's Summary

Audie Award Nominee, Solo Narration - Female, 2013

One of the best-known stories in American culture, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has stirred the imagination of young and old alike for over 100 years. Academy Award-winning actress Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married, Alice In Wonderland), fresh from filming one of this year’s most anticipated films, The Dark Knight Rises, lends her voice to this uniquely American fairy tale.

Follow the adventures of young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto as they get swept away into the magical land of Oz , where they encounter characters and places you may remember from the movie – and several more that never made it to the big screen – on an unforgettable journey to the Emerald City.

“It’s such a wonderful book and I was so happy to be a part of bringing it to life”, Ms. Hathaway said. “There are a lot of great voices in it. The more fun you have with it, the sillier and the more free you get with it, the better it is because it’s a story that can handle it. It’s amazing to be able to discover something new about something you feel you know so well.”

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is part of Audible’s A-List Collection, featuring the world’s most celebrated actors narrating distinguished works of literature that each star had a hand in selecting. For more great books performed by Hollywood’s finest, click here.

Public Domain (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

What the Critics Say

“Anne Hathaway is nothing short of masterful in her narration of Baum’s beloved classic…As narrator, she is lithe yet precise; her voice sounds lilting or emphatic, as the story details require. In character, she is spectacular. Each character is filled with personality—a light-voiced Witch of the North; a brusque soldier at Oz’s palace; a monotone, robot-like Oz; and a usually cheerful and genuine Dorothy. The variety enriches the listening experience. Yes, one may know the story well, but Hathaway makes this recording a definitive one.” (AudioFile)

My family and I drove from Boston to New York listening to "the wonderful wizard of Oz." At 3HRs 52MIN OZ was the prefect length for a long car ride. We were enthralled and memorized by the depth and beauty of the story. The book is moderately different from the movie, which allows much discussion around the discrepancies. The narrator, Anne Hathaway, is excellent, where she bring so much magic and life to multiple characters. Our family continues to discuss the book weeks after completion.

AS a kid, the first thing I looked forward to after Christmas was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It was always aired in Feb., which was sweeps month. I did not know that, I just knew it was sometime after Christmas. It was a great musical and this is a great book. They differ some and are the same a lot. The musical gave the Wicked Witch of the West a huge part that she did not have in the book. It was interesting to see the differences and easy to see why certain changes were made. The book is more violent, with some head chopping going on, but not enough to make the whole book not worth reading. It was published in 1900 and was the best selling children's book for two years.

Baum has an excellent imagination and I loved the ceramic people, which was not in the movie. There are lessons on courage, intelligence, tenderness, confidence and ambition, which children and adults of today can learn much.

Hathaway has taken a real beating by some reviewers. I did not always agree with her interpretations of the characters, (Valley girls did not exist when this was written) but I thought she brought life to the book. She kept it interesting. I much prefer a narrator that spices up the reading, as a reader who just mouths the words. Baum himself changed the book and characters in order to get it on Broadway. If he was alive today, I do not believe he would have a problem with his story being updated.

I also liked the book Wicked, which gives you the witches side of the story.

I never read the Wizard of Oz when I was young and was afraid I wouldn't be able to relate to the story, but Anne Hathaway really brought it to life. She did a wonderful job with the different voices and it was a really good listen.

I thought the story was very fresh. It was very different from the movie we know and love. Anne tried to create memorable voices, but several turned out to be a 1980's 'valley girl' or some derivative thereof. Anne, I love your work, but this did not do it for me.

Would you consider the audio edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to be better than the print version?

Anne Hathaway's great voice work compelled me to love the audio edition over the print version.

Who was your favorite character and why?

A tie between Cowardly Lion & Wizard .

Which scene was your favorite?

Meeting Wizard .

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I laughed repeatedly .

Any additional comments?

Hathaway truly needs to do more voice work . Anne did the impossible, she made something old , feel new and fresh again. She has wonderful vocal skills , and she has that gift to naturally create different voices- masculine or feminine . Anne made all these characters feel real, relatable, and entertaining . Plus, Anne has that rare gift that cannot be taught - charisma. This is truly one of the best audiobook readings I have heard in years.

Anne Hathaway did a good job with so many different voices but I had a hard time with the voice of the Scarecrow because it sounded like Marge Simpson. Listen to the sample on audible then go to youtube and listen to Marge Simpson it was too close to being the same voice I just couldn’t picture the Scarecrow in my head because the voice was Marge! That was the main voice that was just wrong and it took me out of the story, the rest of her voices were good with a few being annoying and some just not fitting, like a valley girl voice just seemed out of place. I guess I liked her narration overall I just wish the Scarecrow had sounded different.I would recommend this audiobook even with Marge Simpson cast as the Scarecrow! Anne does bring many voices to the mix maybe at times too many because some of them don’t seem to belong in the land of Oz but what do I know I’ve never been there!...

As I listened to this I came to the realization that I have never read Wizard of Oz before, yes I know I was shocked too. This story was a bit more violent in parts than I was expecting also there were some huge differences from the movie we have all seen 1,000 times so I had to try to get the movie out of my head and just go with the story, which I did enjoy. But in the end you can’t help comparing the differences…the shoes (silver, not red)...Toto (black, not brown) …Dorothy is a much younger girl…the violence, there is a lot of lopping off of heads that I did not expect..Also the witches seem to play a much smaller part in this than they did in the movie.

Everyone knows the premise of this story there are over 3000+ reviews and 98,000+ ratings on Goodreads alone so really what am I going to add other than if you think you have read this book but aren’t sure give it a try you may be like I was and realize you have never read the story Baum wrote, you only know the Hollywood version!

This is a great presentation of the classic, which I think is best demonstrated by the impact it had on my 5 year old son. He sat quietly listening to the entire work from start to finish throughout a Saturday morning, soaking it all up and loving every second of it.

I would try another book by L. Frank Baum, but I would run away from Anne Hathaway as fast as I could. I have listened to many audio books, but this is the really the worst listening experience that I have had with one.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

When the stork spoke in a Valley Girl voice. I had been trying to forgive her narration for the sake of listening to the differences between the book and the movie until I got to that point. It was really jumping the shark. Unfortunately there were many horrible voices to follow.

What didn’t you like about Anne Hathaway’s performance?

I felt like she tried too hard and pushed herself in front of the story. I couldn't get immersed into the fiction due to her cringe worthy voices with out of place accents and her misinterpretations of how the characters would vocalize in different places. Such as using a haughty voice when a character should sound frightened. Or even smiling mockingly while narrating a serious point in the story.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?

There is nothing wrong with the written work. It is the voice talent that took away from the overall experience. I think it is important to experience books unabridged.

Any additional comments?

Yes the scarecrow does sound kinda like Marge Simpson, but much more manic and with a Zombie-like fervor for BRAINS!! This was actually my favorite of her voice characters.

I think this reading is probably suitable for young children (as long as they don't mind wolves getting their heads chopped off and crows getting their necks twisted and broken.) Young children are probably amused by Anne's antics and her greatest follies will fly right over their heads. I listen to many audio books with my children and I want to be able to enjoy listening to the story as well and this book does not satisfy in that regard.

That said, from an adult perspective, Ms. Hathaway overacts and takes away from the overall experience. A lot of her character choices are very extreme or just plain odd, as though she strained to come up with something unique and new. A child will likely find the different characters fun, this audiobook really is incredibly colorful, there are no default characters. But as an adult, I found that a lot of her choices make no sense (the wizard, above all) and was a little annoyed by some of the more grating ones, like the over-affected stage English of the queen mouse, for example, the valley girl stork, or the Marge Simpson scare crow. In essence, the magic she captures in her narration is the magical range of Anne Hathaway, not that of the Wonderful Wizard.

Other reviewers rave about this version though, so I recommend listening to a sample before you buy.

Anne Hathaway does a great job of bringing this story to life. She uses different voices to depict the characters and I looked forward to my next instalment each day. The story is good, and there are some variations from the film which is interesting. I will definitely be looking for other books read by Anne Hathaway. My only complaint is I wish it was longer!!!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Paul

London, United Kingdom

4/7/13

Overall

"Good reading of a classic"

This is very well read by Anne Hathaway, engaging for the children who listened with wrapt attention. It is a familiar tale to most British children, although some of the scenes are quite frightening for young ones (much as the film is). The story is more elaborate than the film, and has an extended coda.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Lisa

Belfast, United Kingdom

12/23/12

Overall

"The great world of Oz"

Always been very found of the Wizard of Oz collection and must say this audible version is very good. Anne Hathaway gives life to this world and characters and her reading is very good.

I enjoyed this a great version for kids to listen to!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Manfred

Herten, Netherlands

12/23/12

Overall

"Wonderful"

I guess everybody knows the story about Dorothy and Toto. If not from the movie with Ms. Garland then from reading the story by L. Frank Baum. But hearing it being narrated by Anne Hathaway is another dimension. I loved how she changes her voice to portrait the different characters. The story came to life again for me. I never read the sequels to the book, but this has prompted me to start doing so. I recommend this audiobook to anyone who loves a good story. Being Dutch I also recommend this audiobook to other Dutch people who love to read and hear stories in English.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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